Contributions of Oral and Extraoral Facial Movement to Visual and Audiovisual Speech Perception.

Seeing a talker's face influences auditory speech recognition, but the visible input essential for this influence has yet to be established. Using a new seamless editing technique, the authors examined effects of restricting visible movement to oral or extraoral areas of a talking face. In Experiment 1, visual speech identification and visual influences on identifying auditory speech were compared across displays in which the whole face moved, the oral area moved, or the extraoral area moved. Visual speech influences on auditory speech recognition were substantial and unchanging across whole-face and oral-movement displays. However, extraoral movement also influenced identification of visual and audiovisual speech. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that these results are dependent on intact and upright facial contexts, but only with extraoral movement displays. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of four maintenance programs on the long-term management of obesity.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of four posttreatment programs designed to enhance the long-term maintenance of weight loss. Mildly and moderately obese adults (N?=?123) were randomly assigned to one of the following five conditions: (a) behavior therapy only; (b) behavior therapy plus a posttreatment therapist-contact maintenance program; (c) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus a social influence maintenance program; (d) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus an aerobic exercise maintenance program; or (e) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus both the aerobic exercise and social influence maintenance programs. All posttreatment programs were conducted in 26 biweekly sessions during the year following behavioral treatment for obesity. At an 18-month follow-up evaluation, all four conditions that combined behavior therapy with a posttreatment maintenance program yielded significantly greater long-term weight losses than behavior therapy alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antioxidant performance of mixed tocopherols in styrenic block copolymers

Mixed tocopherols (MT) containing a predominance of γ‐tocopherol were evaluated for antioxidant (AO) performance in polybutadiene‐ and polyisoprene‐based styrenic block copolymers (SBS and SIS, respectively) by using oxidative induction time as a measure of AO performance. A conventional hindered phenolic AO and α‐tocopherol (vitamin E) were evaluated in comparison. MT exhibited significantly higher performance than the controls in both SIS and SBS polymers. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 12:73–77, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The nonsqueaky wheel

This paper presents a new approach, termed performance-based maintenance, can utilize past and ongoing equipment maintenance records to prioritize electrical distribution equipment with greater detail. The proposed scheme provides cost savings and useful in identifying equipment that can have a lesser level of future maintenance, or extended maintenance cycles. The integration of multiple inputs is required to minimize the risks associated with improper equipment prioritization. The savings can be redirected to areas such as predictive diagnostics, which can provide for greater improvements in reliability while also reducing the over all spend on maintenance.     

The 3DP: a processor architecture for three-dimensionalapplications

The 3DP (3-Dimensional Processor), a parallel-computing architecture that targets problems that have a 3-D numerical structure and require numerous calculations on 3-D vectors, is described. The 3DP architecture differs from traditional scalar architectures in that it operates directly on vectors. It differs from general parallel architectures in that it can solve problems that predict the behavior of highly coupled systems, and it differs from vector architectures in that it runs efficiently on length-3 vectors. Object-oriented programming on the 3DP and programming the 3DP in C++ are discussed. 3DP performance is reviewed, and the current implementation of the 3DP architecture, as an attached processor that plugs directly into Sun host VMEbus, is described     

Peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress in male Vietnam theater veterans

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of a proposed measure of peritraumatic dissociation and, as part of that effort, to determine the relationship between dissociative experiences during disturbing combat trauma and the subsequent development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHOD: A total of 251 male Vietnam theater veterans from the Clinical Examination Component of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study were examined to determine the relationship of war zone stress exposure, retrospective reports of dissociation during the most disturbing combat trauma events, and general dissociative tendencies with PTSD case determination. RESULTS: The total score on the Peritraumatic Dissociation Experiences Questionnaire--Rater Version was strongly associated with level of posttraumatic stress symptoms, level of stress exposure, and general dissociative tendencies and weakly associated with general psychopathology scales from the MMPI-2. Logistic regression analyses supported the incremental value of dissociation during trauma, over and above the contributions of level of war zone stress exposure and general dissociative tendencies, in accounting for PTSD case determination. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide support for the reliability and validity of the Peritraumatic Dissociation Experiences Questionnaire--Rater Version and for a trauma-dissociation linkage hypothesis: the greater the dissociation during traumatic stress exposure, the greater the likelihood of meeting criteria for current PTSD.     

Using Survey Data and Mathematical Modeling to Prioritize Water Interventions in Developing Countries

Water Resources Management - A traditional cost-benefit analysis of potential water interventions in a given locality is a laborious and time-intensive process. To help decision makers identify...     

Mechanical properties of certain oriented crystalline polymers

The yield stress is a simple function of the deformation ratio in the direction of testing for specimens oriented by uniaxial or biaxial stretching or rolling. Unless the yield stress increases more rapidly than in proportion to the deformation ratio, there will be instability during tensile creep under high loads. The relative merit of various polymers differs for creep and stress relaxation. Fatigue and bend recovery are also related to the molecular structure.